Tuesday, December 02, 2008

My blood pressure had the misfortune of catching Channel 4's "The Politics Slot" this evening. A Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Labour, Toby Perkins, attempted to show how good the government had been for his local area, Chesterfield.

I could only bring my anger levels back under control by writing him a stern email:

Dear Toby,

I happened to catch your broadcast on Channel 4 just now. I wantedyou to know how profoundly depressing I found it. In the space ofbarely two minutes you managed to highlight so much that is wrong withour current government.

Examples:

* Somehow you think it is admirable to state that unemployment isnever a price worth paying. You would have more credibility if youaccepted that there are tradeoffs in public policy. If thealternatives are worse, as they tragically sometimes can be, then evensomething as unpalatable as increasing unemployment can be the lesserof two evils. You patronise your audience by pretending otherwise.

* Your claim that the Labour government paid for the community projectyou showed was deeply unpleasant. The Labour government did not payfor it; the current and future taxpayers of this country paid for it.If you're going to claim credit for this project, at least be honest:the government's primary act was to take money away from individualswho would have been free to spend it as they chose so that you couldspend it as you chose. There is nothing particularly admirable aboutthis.

I respect those who seek to make a positive impact on theircommunities and I wish you good luck in your efforts to make adifference to Chesterfield. But I'm sure you'll understand that, onthe basis of your broadcast, I can't yet wish you success in yourParliamentary ambitions.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Brown.

London, E1W.

I feel better now. But I can't help thinking I should have written it in green ink.

[UPDATE 2008-12-04 Toby was good enough to respond to this email, and with some humour. See the comments section]

Monday, December 01, 2008

Clearly, those who don't want to shop or work on Sundays should be free not to. But, equally, it is wrong to prevent those who want to from doing so.

It occurred to me over lunch yesterday that now is the perfect time for the large retailers to force a change to the law.

Imagine the situation:

If Phil, Tel and Stu were to open their stores for a full day on Sunday, what would happen?

Would we really have the spectacle of the state prosecuting companies who were doing what they could to increase employment, offer additional opportunities for their staff to earn money in these DifficultTimes* and provide additional opportunities for consumers to help keep the economy Moving Forward**?

The only face-saving way out of it for the government would be to accept the economic argument and repeal the ban.

So, go on, guys.... do it!

* Trademark of HM Government.

** What does it mean for an economy to "move", never mind move forward?